Summary Back in Mexico in 1986, a team inspired by the wonderfully gifted Enzo Scifo stunned the world.
SAO PAULO (AFP) - They may have only played two matches at this World Cup but Belgium have already got their fans dreaming of emulating the class of 86.
Back in Mexico in 1986, a team inspired by the wonderfully gifted Enzo Scifo stunned the world by progressing all the way to the semi-finals before falling to eventual winners Argentina and their inspirational captain Diego Maradona.
The current crop, feted for some burgeoning young talents and its cosmopolitan nature, have already qualified for the knock-out rounds with a game to spare.
A point in their final match against South Korea at the Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo -- hardly an Everest given how the Asians defended against Algeria in a 4-2 defeat -- would see them top the group and most likely avoid Germany in the second round.
Following on from their impressive unbeaten qualification campaign it has got many believing they can emulate the achievements of 1986.
"If this talented team don t reach the semi-finals of a big tournament in the next six years then we could talk about waste," said Scifo.
But that is certainly not talk which daunts the Red Devils current coach Marc Wilmots, who feels it is high time a group of players did something to rival the memory of a generation who dazzled before most of the current team had been even born.
In fact only five of the 23-man squad in Brazil were born before the 1986 finals, and of those, only Nicolas Lombaerts had actually celebrated a birthday.
"The past, with the results from the World Cup of 1986 in Mexico, was great but now it s our turn," said Wilmots. "That s what I ve told the players.
"The time has come to put down the books and write our own history."
One player many expect to lead that bid to rewrite the record books is Eden Hazard, who even by his own admission has not had the best of starts to the tournament, despite creating the winning goal in both Belgium s matches so far.
And he says the players are willing to shoulder the burden of expectation.
"It puts a bit of pressure on us. The expectation is huge but that shouldn t hinder us," he said.
"The fans believe we re better than the Devils of 1986, but that s no guarantee of results."
- they need to be men -
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It s not just the fans who believe a team featuring captain and centre-back Vincent Kompany, goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and powerful striker Romelu Lukaku is more talented that its predecessors.
"From a technical point of view there s a lot more quality (in the current team) than there was in ours," Michel Ranquin, a centre-half from the 1986 team, told Le Soir newspaper.
Given his side boasted the likes of goalkeeper Jean-Marie Pfaff, right-back Eric Gerets, and midfielders Scifo and Jan Ceulemans, that is quite a statement.
Whatever the technical merits of each side, for Gerets it is something else that will determine how far Kompany and co. will go.
"We had some success in Mexico. The first round was a calamity, the progress past Russia in the last 16 was a minor miracle. But none of that would have happened without the character we had," said Gerets.
"To succeed at a World Cup you have to give your all, be fighters on the pitch. Be men, what!
"I m waiting to see if the current players have that trait. If it s the case, then yes, we can start dreaming."
For Wilmots, who made the first of his four World Cup finals appearances in the 1990 edition, it boils down to something more simple: getting results.
Asked if this was a golden generation, he replied: "We can say that the day my team has achieved a great result."
